AMA News Wire
“The Jetsons” foresaw medicine’s future. Now it’s Geisinger’s turn.
Apr 26, 2024
In the not-too-distant future, health systems will offer experiences with transparent prices while being driven by “invisible” technology that is more integrated into the patient experience, according to a panel of digital health experts at the ViVE health technology conference in Los Angeles.
It was Geisinger that first started offering lifetime guarantees for hip, knee and shoulder replacements. And it was panelist Rebecca Stametz, DEd, MPH—the Pennsylvania-based integrated health system’s vice president of digital transformation—who predicted that investments in virtual care and other technology will allow hospitals to provide their patients with guaranteed experiences.
The title of the conference session Stametz participated in was “The Hospital’s Jetsons Era,” referencing the prime-time early ’60s TV cartoon that was set in the year 2062. The show predicted the arrival of innovations such as flat-screen TVs and smart watches, as well as the notion of communicating with a family doctor via telehealth (as seen at the 27-second mark of this video).
“I envision that one-day we could all have exceptional experiences anchored by digital capabilities that lead to better outcomes,” said Stametz. She leads the digital transformation office at Geisinger’s Steele Institute for Health Innovation, which seeks to transform health care to better serve communities in the Geisinger coverage area “through human-centered design and care delivery with a focus on affordability,” according to the institute’s website.
Geisinger is a member of the AMA Health System Program that provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine. The AMA also served as a strategic partner for the ViVE conference.
Entering the Jetsons’ era
Stametz noted that Geisinger is proud of its reputation as a leader in health care innovation, adding that “we seek to maintain it in this next generation of digital innovation.”
She added that future hospital design, models of care and digital technology will be shaped by the challenges created by an aging population.
“Pennsylvania, where Geisinger is situated, is not escaping that market dynamic,” she said. “We have an older demographic and we're going to see that will eventually impact access and capacity.”
Along with improving the experience of patients, Stametz noted that the role technology can play in improving the work of physicians, nurses and other health professionals.
“We’re going to see an increase of automation across the board,” she said. “The No. 1 asset that our organizations have is our employees, and given the dynamics that they’re facing, we need to find ways to ease any burdens they face so they can focus on delivering the best care to their patients.
Mere automation of tasks won’t be enough, she noted, adding that “ease of use is absolutely going to be demanded.”
Learn how the AMA is driving the future of health through research and advocacy that aims to make technology an asset instead of a burden and remove obstacles to care.
Keeping the human touch
“This is not solely around technology,” Stametz said at the session, which also featured panelists Charles Worthington, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ chief technology officer and chief artificial Intelligence officer, and Andrea Fletcher, MPH, the first person to hold the position of chief digital strategy officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“The future is going to demand new models of care—and the new models of care are going to be enabled and accelerated by the things that you see on this floor,” Stametz added, referencing the digital health solutions on display at the conference.
These new models of care require thinking beyond what happens in the hospital.
“A strategic prioirity in the Innovation portfolio is around remote patient monitoring. We have programs in place that span continuum of acuity and can include chronic-disease management.”Stametz said.
Since 2020, Geisinger has leveraged retailer Best Buy’s Geek Squad to deliver, install and activate remote-care management devices in a care-at-home program that, depending on the patient, may include blood pressure cuffs, scales, thermometers and glucose meters that transmit a patient’s data to their Geisinger care team.
“Building a product is only the first step, it's building an experience for the patients and care teams that's connected that’s the most important,” Stametz said. “To do that, yes, there's technology, but there's also human beings behind the way that technology is optimized.”
The AMA has created an expert collection of resources to guide physician practices and health care organizations through the successful implementation of telehealth and remote patient monitoring.
